a whole lot of random awesomeness...

Is there any better time of year than the 4th of July? I submit that there is not! I'm a fan of any holiday - because let's face it, who doesn't love a day when you get paid to not go to work- but my all time very favorite holiday is Independence Day. I love everything about it- hot air balloons, the parade, bbqs, Stadium of Fire, and most of all FIREWORKS! At the top of my list of favorite things in the whole world is fireworks. I'm not sure why decorating floats, eating a lot and blowing stuff up honors the Independence of this great nation ("it's what the founding fathers would want") but I'm all for it. I'd classify myself as "wildly patriotic" albeit not very political. And even though I dream of being an expat in Paris I know I could never leave home for too long. I love this country because of the morals that it was founded upon. I love this country because of all those who sacrifice and fight to keep it a free nation. I'm proud to be an American (cue Lee Greenwood).

Since the 4th landed on a wednesday I took advantage of the opportunity to take off the rest of the week from work and spend some quality time in Utah. I've been so homesick lately so it was great to spend more than just a weekend at home. Here's the break down of the weeks activities (sorry this is going to be a novel).

Tuesday afternoon I left work a little early and escaped the Vegas heat only to enter the Utah heat (higher altitude and slightly more humidity makes it feel just as hot). As soon as I got into town Stacy and I went to Provo to drive the 10k route so that we could feel more at ease about running it. There were billions of people camped out along the parade route. It was a little insane and I felt like I should be picking up on guys in the car next to us while we were dragging University Ave but with a married mother of 3 as my copilot I couldn't really indulge myself. The route didn't look too bad and we headed home thinking, "hey we can do this!" I tried to get to sleep early but was so nervous about waking up on time that I didn't end up getting much sleep.

*we may all look a little haggard in this photo. don't judge us. we just ran 6.2 miles! but i love that it looks like we're on the medal stand.*

Wednesday morning we headed down to the race and met up with Chloe. It was so great to actually meet someone I blog stalk face to face! She was just as great in person as she is in blog form and I had a great time getting to know her for real. I was really happy about running with Stacy and Chloe and even though we didn't all actually run together it was fun have friends at the starting line and the finish line. The race wasn't bad at all and I was seriously relieved that I wasn't the slowest runner on the course. I felt really good (I attribute it to the bananas) and finished just 30 seconds over my goal time of 72 mins. That might sound really slow to some of you but for a non-runner like myself I was really happy with it. The last mile kicked my butt but I was able to sprint in to the finish line and I felt great afterwards. You better believe that I wore my finisher medal all day long. I was so proud of myself that I was able to accomplish something that just a few months ago I honestly didn't believe I could do. Now that I've crossed the finish line I'm going to start preparing for a half-marathon at the end of the year. Yay!

*me and the sisters. there may be a little mischief going on in this photo. and i'm not kidding when i say that i wore my finisher medal all day.*

After the race I met my family down at the parade. I'm not sure why but I love the parade. Maybe it's the tradition that I love more than the actual parade itself but it was fun. After a shower and a nap I went with my family to my aunts house in Farmington for lunch. After food and fun with water guns we headed back down to Provo for the Stadium of Fire. Fun! Brooks & Dunn was there and ended the show perfectly with Only in America. And then it was the fireworks! So fun!

Thursday I had to wake up and take my sister to the airport and drop my aunt off at home in Centerville so I took advantage of the location and stopped in to see one of my best friends, Ben. We go way back and have been through a ton together. It'd been a while since I'd seen him so it was great to just hang out and chat. I spent most of the morning with him then headed back down to Orem in the afternoon. I was supposed to get some work done but didn't end up doing any at all. I met up with Jason in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day together and you know what? It was great. We played minigolf, watched Triumph the insult comic dog, went to dinner, walked in the park then watched tv for 4 hours. Pretty good for a first date, right?
I got to thinking that dating at 29 is way more fun than dating was at 19. I'm finally at a point in my life where I know who I am, what I like and what I want to do so there's no more pretending to be what I'm not to try and make a boy like me. Now I can just go have fun regardless of whether I like the boy or not. If he doesn't like me then who cares. I like me. But I digress...

Friday was an awesome followup to the 2 previous busy days. After having gone to bed at 2am I got up at 5am to meet my sister. We drove up past Park City and Kamus up near Mirror Lake and hiked Bald Mountain. It was SO BEAUTIFUL!! The hike itself was fun and easy but the view was breathtaking. From the top of the peak we could count about 25 lakes. All I could think about was wanting to kayak on them.

*my sister and I may or may not (may) have a problem taking too many pictures of ourselves. call us narcissistic... whatev...*

On the way down the canyon we stopped at Provo Falls. I had no idea it existed but it was really amazing. There's something I love about waterfalls, even small ones like this. The sound of the water is so powerful yet relaxing.

*the obligatory big lips photo*

I had just enough time to sneak in a 15min nap before going to meet Ben and 2 old acquaintances, Ryan and Judd, for a round of golf. It was so miserably hot! I was dripping sweat before we even started the round. I was a little nervous to play with the boys since it'd been about 8 months since I'd taken in a round but I was really happy with how I played. I was able to keep up with them, shooting mostly bogies, and only lost 2 balls. I've finally learned to drive with the help of an improved grip and a nicer driver. My fairway woods are still a disaster and my long irons are terribly inconsistent. But overall I was happy with my game. After we were done playing Ben, Ryan and I met up with Ben's wife Lisa for dinner. Lisa is one of my dearest friends and former roommates from USU. It was great company!

Saturday was finally my day to veg. I'd gotten a little cranky because of my lack of sleep so it was nice to try and catch up. We got lunch from L&Ls and just ate and relaxed all day. We took a walk in the park that borders our backyard. I love having it right there. It's so nice. I packed up and was getting ready to head back to Vegas when my sister informed me that I might not be heading back to Vegas that day. I found out that I15 was closed from Scipio to Parawon due to a huge wildfire. I knew the traffic on the alterior routes would be horrible so I decided to cancel all my sunday meetings at church and stay another day. I have to admit I wasn't too upset about that.

*here's where i saw the huge flames and scorched landscape*

Sunday I finally got to sleep in then went to sacrament meeting with my dad. I hit the road around 3pm to head south. I was hoping I15 would be open by then but when I got closer to the smoke and could see the raging flames I knew there wasn't much hope of that. I was diverted to I70 then south on highway 89. Traffic wasn't going more than 5mph for most of the time. The drive wasn't bad though because I got to see some beautiful country. I passed through Marysville and Junction. I absolutely love small towns. Part of me thinks I would love to live in a small town... but only if it were within a 10 minute drive to the city.

*this is how i roll!*

I finally got home 7-1/2 hrs later (2 hrs longer than it usually takes me). I hung out with a bunch of friends for an hour before going home. I would have loved to go straight to bed at that point but because I'd played so much during the week and not done the work I'd taken home I had to stay up until 3:30am to get it done only to wake up at 7am this morning to get into the office. But, I'd say it was TOTALLY WORTH IT because that was one of the best weeks I've had in a really long time!